WHY “LOVE” IS THE KEY TO CAREER SUCCESS, A PERSPECTIVE FOR BENTLEY CANDIDATES AND CLIENTS
In a world filled with KPI dashboards, performance reviews, and quarterly targets, it’s easy to forget the simple, and truly powerful, force that drives lasting motivation at work: love. In his 2022 Harvard Business Review article, Marcus Buckingham argues that love, small, specific affinities for parts of your work, is the cornerstone of both individual and organisational success.
Here’s why this matters for job seekers, career-changers, and employers alike:
1. You don’t need to love everything, just something
Buckingham’s research shows that people who experience something they love in their work at least 20% of the time are significantly more creative, resilient, and engaged.
For you, as a candidate, this means uncovering your " "red threads", those specific tasks or scenarios that energise you, even if they’re not every task you do.
2. Love lives in the details
The secret to thriving isn’t grand visions, it’s the little moments:
“What did I love last week?”
“What am I excited about this week?”
Managers who ask these weekly questions see 77% higher engagement and 67% less turnover.
3. Recruiting & Hiring Implications
At Bentley Recruitments, our mission is pairing people with roles that tap into their unique loves, and not just their skills.
Interview tip: we encourage hiring managers to consider:
“What tasks energise this person?”
“Can we structure the day-to-day, so they spend at least 20% of their time on those tasks?”
4. Designing Your Role (From Both Sides)
Candidates:
Reflect on your recent tasks: what did you love? What did you loathe?
Pitch ways to lean into your loves, ask to take the lead on projects you’re passionate about.
Learn new skills to formalise and amplify your strength, MailChimp, Excel, SEO. Even if not in your current job spec, these can fuel your “love.”
Employers:
Establish weekly 1:1 check-ins with 2 simple questions:
“What did you love this week? What did you loathe?”
“What’s your top focus next week, and how can I help?”
Empower your team to reframe roles based on outcome, not task lists. If someone’s shining in brand strategy, evolve their title and focus accordingly.
5. Love = Better Engagement and Performance
Employees who have a chance to do something they love every day are 10x more likely to be highly engaged and 17x more resilient.
That translates to improved performance, reduced absenteeism, and stronger team cohesion.
6. No Love? Consider a Side Hustle
If you can’t shape your day to include your love, create it elsewhere, a side project that energises you.
Buckingham points out that side hustles often form fertile soil, leading to more fulfilling work, even full-time shifts.
What This Means for You (Whether You’re Hiring or Job Seeking)
Candidates | Employers/Hiring Managers |
Discover and articulate your red threads | Structure roles to include team members’ loves |
Negotiate to incorporate 20%+ of joy tasks | Incorporate weekly "love/loathe" check-ins |
Learn extra skills to formalise your love | Design jobs around outcomes, not just task lists |
Use side projects to fill the passion gap | Value resilience and engagement driven by employee love |
At Bentley, We’re Passionally People-First
When you work with us, you’re not just filling a vacancy, you’re partnering to uncover where your core loves intersect with strategic needs. That intersection is where magic happens, roles that energise, teams that thrive, and careers that endure.
Let’s create career paths rooted in connection and joy, because at the end of the day, it’s love that makes work meaningful.